Glad to know you’re okay.
She glanced at her watch and frowned. It had taken Jason a lot longer than it should have to get home, but she had to trust that he was being honest. She couldn’t go check on him anyway, and he wouldn’t be happy if she did. She slid her phone back inher pocket and went into the restroom. Five minutes later, she returned to the room.
A nurse stopped her on the way. “I’ve got the room number we’re moving your charge to.” She handed Bridget a Post-it note with the number.
“Thanks.”
“She’ll be on the pediatric floor. We considered Pediatrics or ICU, but she doesn’t seem sick enough for ICU. And we need this bed for a couple more cases coming in from the pile up north of town.”
“What’s the difference?”
“At this stage, it’s the ease of monitoring. There’s a lower nurse-to-patient ratio in ICU because the patients are so sick. She’s stable, just not responding. Especially if you stay with her, she should be fine.” The nurse’s nametag had flipped around so that Bridget couldn’t read her name.
“I don’t plan on leaving her as long as there’s room.”
“There will be.”
Bridget thanked her and headed to the curtained room. When she got there, someone she hadn’t seen was leaning over the girl. She didn’t like the way the situation looked. Something felt wrong. “What are you doing?”
The person didn’t look up and instead leaned further over the girl.
“Wait.” Bridget raised her voice. “Hey, I need help in here.” She stepped into the hall and yelled again for help. Then she hurried back to the room. “Get away from her.”
The man looked up and the scorn in his eyes turned her to ice inside. It reminded her of the way her stepfather had looked at her anytime she spoke up or made her presence known. She had loathed the man but learned to bury it deep inside under layers of perfection that allowed him to at least tolerate her presence. She had played the game until she left for college, and then nevergone back home. Jason had already left, and her mother could visit her. She hadn’t cried a single tear when the man abandoned her mother. Her only regret was that he hadn’t done so years earlier.
This man was not going to harm Jane Doe on Bridget’s watch. She leaped toward him as she kept yelling for help. It was only then that she saw the syringe in his hand.
“He has a syringe. He may have used drugs of some sort.” If she kept yelling, maybe help would finally arrive.
“You don’t need to do this.” He held his hands up. The words were right, but the eyes were still all wrong. Hard. Cold. Calculating.
“Help. Please. Someone.” She had to get help as the girl’s breath started to shallow and alarms bleated, then blared. She tried to grab the syringe. “Get away from her.”
He ran through her, throwing her toward the bed and causing her to bounce off it and into the wall. Her head hit the wall hard, and she saw two of everything as the man raced out of the door. The noise accelerated.
But all she could do was slouch against the wall and pray she’d done enough to get help.
CHAPTER 6
The emergency room was chaotic when Todd returned. In addition to ambulances dropping off people, he found a nurse checking out Bridget, while Dr. Miller and another nurse worked frantically on Jane Doe.
He hurried into the room. “What happened?”
“You need to step out.” The authority in Dr. Miller’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
“Why?”
“We have our hands full and can’t deal with you, too.” Then she physically turned away from him as if he didn’t exist anymore, her complete focus on the patient in front of her.
He stepped to the door but didn’t move any further because something bad had happened in the time he returned to the scene, and he wouldn’t leave until he understood. He pulled out his phone and texted Caleb.
You still up?
He waited a minute.
Should he call and wake his partner? He wasn’t sure it was worth doing that yet. Still, he might need backup from someone. Something had gone down, but he couldn’t tell whether JaneDoe’s crisis was health-related or something more. The fact that Bridget needed help screamed something more.
A nurse pushed past him, something in his hand that he held out to Bridget. “Here’s an ice pack for you.”
